My first minerals were Neutrogena, Avon (which I hated), and BE back in 2008. I got a free sample of Light foundation from Sephora for a special deal they were offering. I used it pretty much all Summer and into Fall and really liked it; it seemed like it should be too dark/orange for my light/fair skintone, but when I put it on it just looked nice and natural. I stopped using it when I ran out of the sample, but I'd liked it enough to later buy a full jar of it. I was disappointed with it though because I felt like it wasn't quite the same as the sample I'd used; maybe it was just because my skin was a little paler than it had been in Summer? I'm not sure. I stopped using it for a while, but then decided to try it again like a year later; to my dismay, it made my skin itch and was terribly uncomfortable, and I had to wash it off after like an hour. I don't know what caused this change, but I feel like I wasted my money on that full jar.
/emoticons/
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Other brands I've tried are:
-Everyday Minerals which I felt had nice shade choices but I didn't really like how their formula worked on me. I still use their Intensive Fair concealer though, and various blushes and finishing powders.
-Meow Cosmetics: I bought a bunch of little samples of different shades of foundation, hoping to find a perfect match to my skin. I haven't tried them all but the ones I have tried just didn't quite seem to match up for me. However all the samples I bought were in their lightest formulation and the coverage just wasn't enough for me to really tell. I think I might try their fullest coverage formula next and see how that works.
-Beauty from the Earth: I'm currently using BFTE foundation, which is odd because mainly all I buy from them is eyeshadow. I never really considered their foundation, but eventually bought some samples just because I order so much from them anyway. I discovered I quite like their formula; it's very silky, almost creamy, but finding a perfect match has been a little difficult. They don't offer a huge shade range, and I think they're lacking in a few areas, (a yellow version of their lightest shade Alabaster, for example). Right now I'm using an almost 50/50 mix of Alabaster (lightest pink-toned shade) and Bisque, which is supposedly their lightest yellow-toned shade. Bisque is too dark/orange for me on it's own, and Alabaster is too light/pink. I'm starting to believe I'm more neutral than straight pink or yellow, so I'm thinking about asking them to make me a custom shade using those products as reference. If I could get the color just right, I'd be happy because I really do like their formulation; it's got medium coverage which is perfect for me, since I want to cover my redness and such but not look too heavy. It also doesn't cause me any skin problems, I think it's the most comfortable-feeling mineral powder I've tried. It looks pretty good blended onto my large pores, which tend to make anything look cakey.
